Adjustable headrest for reclining chairs



Sept. 25, 1962 A. M. SPOUND 3,055,707

ADJUSTABLE HEADRE'ST FOR RECLINING CHAIRS Filed Feb. 6, 1959 INVENTOR.

ALBERT M. SPOUND ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,055,707 ADJUSTABLEHEADREST FOR RECLINING CHAIRS Albert M. Spound, Weilesley Hills, Mass.(%Charit0n Company, Fitchburg, Mass.) Filed Feb. 6, 1959, Ser. No.791,745 7 flaims. (Cl. 297-403) This invention relates to a new andimproved adjustable headrest for a reclining chair and reference is madeto my copending application Serial No. 709,594, filed January 17, 1958,now Patent No. 2,884,992, granted May 5, 1959, showing variousmechanisms for automatically projecting headrests for reclining chairconstructions. The present invention has a projecting headrest mechanismwhich may be substantially like any of those shown in the prior case,and the principal object of the present invention resides in theprovision of such a headrest which is adjustable manually after it hasbeen fully projected to provide for two different positions thereof forresting the head according to the desires of the user.

One of said positions provides the headrest in a more or less closerelationship to the plane of the backrest of the chair for recliningwith the occupants head lying in a comfortable stretched-out positionfor sleep or mere relaxation; and the other position provides for theheadrest to be moved somewhat forwardly so as to support the head alittle more upright, allowing the occupant of the chair to read, viewtelevision, or to carry on a conversation with others while reclining inthe chair but with the head supported in a somewhat elevated position inthe manner of the provision of a pillow, cushion or the like.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 isa view showing the top portion of a chair backrest, together with thenew headrest illustrated in its different positions in solid and brokenlines;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating the headreststarting downwardly toward its retracted position in the backrest;

FIG. 4 illustrates the action thereof at a further point in the progressof the linkage, moving the headrest down; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the headrest in almost housed position in thebackrest of the chair in full lines and shown housed in dotted lines.

In carrying out the present invention, any kind of reclining chairconstruction may be utilized in order to support the headrest, which isthe principal subject matter of the present invention. In the presentcase, the drawing has been simplified by the omission of conventionalportions of the chair including upholstery, etc; and for more detailconcerning the operation of the automatically projected headrestconstruction, reference is made to my copending patent application aboveidentified.

In any event, the backrest of the chair in this case is generallyindicated at 10. This backrest is pivotally or swingably mounted on somekind of a base or seat and may be moved from a generally substantiallyupright position which is called the sitting position, into a recliningposition more or less on the angle illustrated in FIG. 1 with referenceto a horizontal. This angle may vary, depending on the construction ofthe chair.

The backrest has provided therein a linkage at 12 and 14 which may bereferred to as a parallel bar linkage or the like and which supports atits upper ends as 3,055,707 Patented Sept. 25, 1962 by brackets 16 theheadrest proper generally indicated by the reference numeral 18. Thisheadrest is preferably stuffed, padded, cushioned and upholstered, andprovides a cushion-like head support for the occupant of the chair. 7

It is to be particularly brought out that in the construction herein,the top of the backrest It is generally of a height comparable to anordinary non-adjustable upholstered living-room chair or the like, andthe general purpose of course of the headrest is to be concealed whenthe occupant of the chair is sitting up and to be projected intohead-supporting position when the occupant wishes to recline.

Between the padded headrest and the bracket 16, there are mounted a pairof side plates indicated at 22 which are fixed with relation to bracket16 and swivelly mount between the same the padded headrest 18 as bymeans of swivel-pins 24, 2.4, which are perhaps best seen in FIG. 2.

The two swivel-pins 24, 24 are axially aligned so as to provide for thecushioned headrest 18 to be swivelly mounted thereon at an axisgenerally parallel to the backrest in a transverse direction withrelation to the chair. This axis is offset from the center of theswivelled headrest as is clearly shown in the drawings, so that theheadrest may be adjusted to provide at least two useful positions.

In one of these positions, as shown in solid lines in FIG. 1, theheadrest forms a substantial continuation of the general plane of thebackrest, and this is used as described above for a relaxed recliningposition for sleep or rest. It is pointed out that in ordinary practice,the headrest 18 would be tilted slightly forwardly because even in therelaxed position, the head should be supported slightly forwardly of theplane of the backrest, but for clarity of illustration of the presentinvention, this relationship has been shown as substantially coplanar.For instance, the cushion 18 could be tilted slightly forwardly asmounted on the bracket and the position desired.

In any event, with the cushion as shown in FIG. 1, in solid lines, itmay be easily grasped manually and pivoted as for instance in acounter-clockwise direction to provide for the surface at 26 nowappearing at the front rather than the surface 28. This of courseprovides that the headrest is located well in advance of its formerposition as is illustrated in FIG. 1 in broken lines, and in thisposition the head is supported in a more upright condition even thoughthe backrest 10 is not moved and remains in its reclining position as itwas previously. In this position of the device, the occupant of thechair may recline at ease while still reading or carrying on aconversation or looking at the TV screen with his head pillowed andcomfortably supported.

With the headrest in its forward position as shown in broken lines inFIG. 1, and it being desired to cause the backrest to move forwardly tositting position, the linkage 12 and 18 will start to descend as forinstance about the respective pivots at 30 and 32, under influence ofthe driving bar 34, as fully explained in my copending application aboveidentified. These levers come down relatively to the backrest in aclockwise direction, and as they do so, the cushion is being in itsforwardly extended position as in broken lines in FIG. 1, strikes thebackrest portion at 35, see FIG. 3. Continued downward motion of thelinkages 12 and 14 will obviously cause the headrest portion 18 to bepivoted in a clockwise direction, see FIG. 4 which shows a continuationof this action. As the linkage continues downwardly, the headrest 18 iscaused to execute a complete 180 turn to the FIG. 5 position which showsthe same just before it is fully housed in the backrest as described inmy copending application.

In view of the above, it will be seen that whenever the headrest isprojected under influence of the linkage and driving rod 34, that is,when the backrest is moved toward a reclining position, the headrestwill always and invariably be in the solid line position in FIG. 1 whenprojected, and therefore it is only necessary for the occupant of thechair to reach up behind his head, grasp the top of the headrest 18 andmove it around 180 to the forwardly projected position as shown inbroken lines in FIG. 1. This action is illustrated by the dotted lineposition in FIG. 1 also, and it is brought out that if desired, limitingmeans may be provided to stop the headrest in any rotative position.

In order to carry out this purpose, there may be provided spring pins36, 36 which are continuously thrust outwardly from within the paddedheadrest by the springs at 38, 38 and various indentations may beprovided in plates 22 as at 40 for the purpose of receiving the roundedends of the pins 36 to yieldingly latch the headrest in any rotativeposition which may be provided for by the particular indents.

In the present case, there have been shown two positions of latching,and these positions are as described above; however, any number ofdetents could of course be provided arranged in a circle about the axisof the pins 24 so as to provide for yieldingly holding the headrest inany position which the occupant of the chair may desire.

The spring action of the plungers 36 is relatively light so that theheadrest may be manually manipulated as described above without muchresistance and also the action of the headrest in pivoting in theclockwise direction as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 is easilyyieldingly accomplished without resistance to the operation of the chairback in moving forwardly from the reclining position of FIG. 1substantially to the sitting position which is illustrated in FIG. 5.

It will be seen that this invention provides a relatively simple, easilyactuated but extremely useful and comfortable headrest device of theclass described which may be provided with two or more positions of use.The reclining chair may be used to relax, for sleeping, or for socialpurposes such as reading, viewing, etc., with the head, however, firmlyand comfortably supported in the forward position as described, and themanipulation of the device may be done by the occupant of the chair ashe sits therein merely by reaching up behind him and moving the headrestin either direction from the forward to the rear or from the rearforwardly. Also, the headrest is always housed in a single predeterminedposition as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 and therefore whenever theoccupant leans back in the chair to make the backrest recline, he knowsWhere the headrest will be when it is projected.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A reclining chair comprising a backrest movable for dispositionbetween a sitting osition and a reclining position, a headrest movablymounted within said backrest, said headrest having at least twohead-supporting surfaces generally normal to each other, a support forthe headrest, means for projecting said headrest from said backrest, andmeans swivelly mounting said headrest on its support, said headrestbeing mounted on said support on an eccentric axis relative to thecenter of the headrest, said axis being within the headrest.

2. A reclining chair comprising a backrest swingably mounted fordisposition between a sitting position and a reclining position, aheadrest movably mounted within said backrest, said headrest having aplurality of contiguous head-supporting surfaces, means for projectingsaid headrest from said backrest, means mounting said headrest on aswivel axis, said headrest being mounted on said means eccentricallywith respect to the center of the headrest, but within the headrest,whereby one side of the headrest will project variably relative toanother side when the headrest is rotated.

3. A reclining chair comprising a backrest swingably mounted fordisposition between a sitting position and a reclining position, aheadrest movably mounted within said backrest, said headrest having aplurality of contiguous head-supporting sides, means for projecting saidheadrest from said backrest, means mounting said headrest on a swivelaxis, said headrest being mounted on said means eccentrically withrespect to the center of the headrest, whereby one side of the headrestwill project variably relative to another side with respect to thebackrest when the headrest is rotated, and means yieldably holding theheadrest in selected adjusted position.

4. A seat construction comprising a frame, a seat on the frame, abackrest pivotally mounted with respect to said seat and frame formovement between sitting and reclining conditions of the backrest, aheadrest having a plurality of adjacent supporting surfaces, meansmounting said headrest on the backrest for projection of said headrestfrom a position generally to the rear and below the top portion of thebackrest where the headrest is inoperative to a position above the topportion of the backrest with the headrest closely adjacent to thebackrest, said headrest being freely swingable on the headrest mountingmeans on an axis generally in the plane of the backrest and extendingtransversely thereto, said headrest presenting a surface in generalcontinuation of the back-supporting surface of the backrest.

5. The seat construction of claim 4 wherein the means to project theheadrest includes parallel bars.

6. A seat construction comprising a frame, a seat on the frame, abackrest pivotally mounted with respect to said seat and frame formovement between sitting and reclining conditions of the backrest, aheadrest, means mounting said headrest on the backrest for projection ofsaid headrest from a position generally to the rear and below the topportion of the backrest where the headrest is inoperative to a positionabove the top portion of the backrest with the headrest closely adjacentto the backrest, said headrest being freely swingable on the headrestmounting means on an axis generally in the plane of the backrest andextending transversely thereto, said headrest presenting a surface ingeneral continuation of the back-supporting surface of the backrest,said headrest pivot axis being located adjacent one side of the headrestso that the headrest when projected fails to extend beyond thesupporting surface of the backrest but upon being pivoted presents asurface projected somewhat beyond the supporting surface of thebackrest.

7. The seat construction of claim 6 wherein the means to project theheadrest includes swing bars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS231,631 Taggart Aug. 24, 1880 339,477 Scharritt Apr. 6, 1886 534,582Sargent Feb. 19, 1895 2,466,553 McDonald Apr. 5, 1949 2,843,184 LorenzJuly 15, 1958 2,869,619 Petersen Jan. 20, 1959 2,884,992 Spound et a1.May 5, 1959

